How To Lose A Potter
by sreduaram
Summary: Lily finds herself agreeing to date the ever annoying James Potter. ‘Oh no, dramatic was the time he stole all your underwear and paraded around with it over his uniform, and just to say he looked good in your pants.’ This calls for revenge
1. The Incident

**A/N: This sort of continues on from my one shot **_**'James Potter: Quidditch star and complete idiot,'**_** you don't have to read it before this, but if you want to know how exactly Lily finds herself dating James, it's in the one-shot :) please read and review.**

_Crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Crap. Crap_

Lily was angry. Extremely angry. And Surprised. And Upset. And really just very confused. She had somehow found herself agreeing to a date with James Potter. Yes, _the_ James Potter. The boy who Lily yelled at (and rejected) on a daily basis, and whose nose she had broken at least three times, and who somehow just had the _the _title.

Pounding back to her dorm, Lily relayed her story. But instead of receiving the sympathy she was expecting, her friends were instead on the floor in laughter.

'So that's how he finally got his girl' Alice, a short blonde girl, finally said after recovering. 'By being extremely irritating'

'Well I suppose that's one way to do it' mused the brunette, Rory, whose hair now resembled a mop from all her floor-rolling glory.

'It's the potter charm' laughed Alice, amused.

'What? Irritating the girl into subsistence?' asked Lily, not sure whether she was more infuriated or amused by his tactics. Annoying as he was, Lily had to admit, the boy had style. Rory was fighting hard to hide a smile.

'Better than the time he actually wrote you a song'

Lily glared at the innocently smiling Rory. _Just a _lovely _wave of nostalgia, wasn't it? _

'Or the time he bribed first years into saying 'Marry me, Lilykins' everytime they saw you,' at this Alice followed with a dramatic gesture much alike to what James himself had done. 'Now that was…dramatic.' Lily groaned into her pillow. All the times, and there were many times, that James had quite publicly declared his love for her, were not really her fondest memories. But before Lily could reflect on this she was interrupted by the manically giggles of Rory.

'Oh no, no, dramatic was the time he –'

The agitated red-head breathed in tentatively and slapped and hand over her friend's mouth. They had nicknamed it _the incident._

'– stole all your underwear and paraded around with it over his uniform' finished Rory completely audibly, heavily breathing through Lily's hands. _How on earth does that girl sound so clear!? _'And just to say he looked good in your your pants.'

By this time each of the girls were clutching onto each other, trying to breathe.

'Well as tactless as he was, you still do have to go out with him now'

'But, he's…him' lily cried. _Ah, very convincing Lily._

'Yes we know, but you can't really get out of it now, can you?'

'I could be sick?' lily suggested. _YES!!_ Lily tried to convince herself, _he can hardly stop me if I've got some sort of wizard plague. _

'Every single Hogsmeade trip this year?'

_Or Chlamydia. Would he really know what is was if I said I had Chlamydia?_

Lily considered this. She weighed up her options, what was worse one date with James "I-like-quidditch-because-it-gives-my-hair-the-windswept-look" Potter, or not going to Hogsmeade for the entirety of her Hogwarts career. She was highly disputed on this, because as nice as Hogsmeade was this was James Potter, the boy who once spent a week following her underneath his stupid invisibility cloak.

'Lily, please tell me you are not honestly considering that?'

'Uh, no?' she said feigning innocence.

He couldn't be that bad Lily thought. _I'll just treat it like another head meeting. It's okay, she reassured herself. One date. I'm not agreeing to marry him, just a few hours of my precious existence. What was the worst a seventeen year old boy could really do?_

'Lily Evans! James will not drug you. He may be obsessed, but does he look like a psychopath?'

'I guess not' Lily replied, still apprehensive. 'and it's only one date, I will survive. You're sure he won't mutilate me in anyway?'

'Trust me, if there any mutilation happening on this date it won't be on his part'

Before Lily could retaliate, Rory had suddenly interjected

'Wait, if you're going on this date, who says we can't have a little fun with it?' Rory gave Lily and Alice a knowing look.

'You know what this means girls?'

'Revenge!' lily said with a satisfied smile. _Who's gonna be smirking now, Potter?_

**A/N: Thankyou for reading!! I know it's short, but it's sort of an introduction, please review and tell me your thoughts :D**


	2. The Plan

Lily's morning had been interesting to say the least. A night of midnight scheming had been followed by a morning of further scheming.

Lily quite literally fell out of bed, blankets and all. Looking down at her feet she realised she had not in fact fallen out of bed, but rather been pulled out by a maliciously grinning Rory. Not that this wasn't normal for Rory, who had a habit of "interesting" wake up methods. Lily looked up at her cautiously, as if fearing an outburst of cackling. Lily's eyes found Alice, who had apparently also been attacked by the Rory-esque wake up. Rory was now pacing up and down the dorm room, hands clutched behind her back. She abruptly halted, making both Alice and Lily jerk.

'Well what are you waiting for? Get up and dressed! I didn't wake you up so you could just sit there like idiots,' she added hand gestures for dramatic effect, 'We have some scheming to do'

After a rush to get dressed and all important scheming, the three girls had approached the great hall all preparing themselves. Rory gestured for them to stop, and huddled her two companions into a circle,

'Okay girlies, you know what we're doing, game plan is –'

'Game plan?' Lily interrupted, one auburn eyebrow raised.

'_Yes._ Game plan. And as I was saying before Lily so kindly interrupted,' Rory sent Lily a pointed look, 'Okay so we want Potter and the gang of idiots to have no idea what we're doing, so flirting and lots of high pitched girlish giggles'

'Yes, because they won't at all be suspicious if us, the most un-bimbo girls, start giggling high pitched' Alice rolled her eyes, the sarcasm obvious in her voice. She's exchanged looks with Lily. A look that definitely read _oh dear god, we're friends with a crazy person_.

'They're the marauders, 'sif they even know the difference between all the girls they date' scoffed Lily. Over the years she had established a dislike to the marauders, namely James and Sirius. She wished she could say the feeling was mutual, but it definitely wasn't. James had taken a very irritating liking to Lily.

Rory continued in her "game plan", ignoring the comments her friends were making. 'Exactly. So c'mon girls, lets go break some hearts.'

She nodded indicating they should make their great entrance. They continued as they did every morning, walking up the side of Gryffindor table, making a beeline for their usual seats, nearer to the front of the hall. Alice bowed her head for just a moment, cueing the girls to begin giggling slightly. They continued forward past the marauders and the daily 'Evans, looking beautiful this morning, go out with me?' Every morning James would either be greeted with a strong glare, angry gesture or just be completely ignored. This morning however, Lily turned slightly and gave him half a smile. The previously eating Sirius' jaw had now quite literally dropped, and an equally confused Remus had stopped mid sentence.

'Phase one accomplished girls'

And so their day had continued. The marauders seemed to be avoiding the girls like the plague, our of apparent confusion. They were now sitting in charms, where the marauders had positioned themselves in the furthest seats away.

'You know, I could really get used to this. It's quite working for me' Lily sighed contentedly, a smile on her face as she imagined her James-less world. Lily leaned back in her chair, really quite happy with the turn of events. Instead of being obnoxious, out of sheer confusion James hadn't said a word to her all day.

'Lily, Lily, Liiiiily' Alice whined, 'We've gone over this. Stick to the plan and you'll never have to face the idiot again.'

_The plan. Great. _Lily groaned and lay her head atop her arms. How she was going to survive this brilliant concoction was a mystery.

'You know, as much as she denies it, I still think Lily is secretly in love with James and wants to have his babies.' At this the red head immediately shot up to object. But Rory was directly speaking to Alice.

'They would have very attractive children actually. Smart and good at quidditch'

'Oh I can just imagine them! Little heads of messy black hair, and lots of red heads too'

'They'd be so cute!' gushed Alice.

'I am here you know!' Lily interrupted, 'And very happy with hating Potter. I don't at all like him and have no intention of bearing his children. In fact, dancing around him with a pitch fork and stabbing him to his death would be a very nice thing for me to do'

'Well opposites do attract Lils, and you can't deny that he's _sort of_ changed'

Rory and Alice both smiled innocently and swayed the conversation in a different direction before Lily could object. But she could swear she heard Alice mumble something along the lines of 'and the children'.

_Lily smiled sweetly up at holding out a batch of freshly baked biscuits. She looked up at the man standing in front of her, muggle dress suit, round rimmed glasses._

_'Biscuit honey?' asked Lily, smoothing out her dress. Her emerald eyes fell to the large diamond placed on her left ring finger. Lily sighed contentedly as the messy haired boy took a bite of the biscuit and flashed her a crooked grin. She looked up at the deep hazel eyes and smiled right back._

_'Perfect as always, love'_

_He leant down to give her a kiss-_

'AHHHH!!!!!'

Lily clutched onto the sheets of her bed, an expression of utmost disgust upon her face. She shivered looking up to the faces of two very concerned girls.

'Are you alright? What happened? What can we do?' slurred Alice looking concerned. Rory scoffed, raising her eyebrows.

'Oh come on! I know that expression. That is the James Potter Stepford wife dream. You know? The muggle thing.'

'Exactly! Why do you think I look so concerned? I think even just a dream about James is traumatising enough for Lily'

Rory's head tilted back with laughter, and she smiled thinking of the previous night's events.

'I guess that's just something our little Lily will have to get used to now, won't she?'

Lily drew in a deep breath. Was she really doing this?

'Are we really doing this?'

Alice and Rory exchanged glances and immediately donned smirks. Lily sighed. _I take that as a yes…_ Lily groaned falling back into her pillow, which only made the girls' smirks grow.

'Fine. Just stop smirking! You look like Black. Potter's infamous crony is almost as bad as he is'

'If we must. But to begin with, you may want to start using his real name' Alice made an effort to sound convincing. As much as she loved Lily. Lily did not love James. Contempt would be a better description.

'Real name? Like James?'

Alice pronounced 'Yes' extremely slowly, as if trying to explain something to a very dumb five year old.

'James? Jaaa-mes?' enunciated Lily.

'That is his name, dear'

'No' replied Lily, with an abrupt shake of the head. 'He should go by Potter and nothing else. He's too obnoxious to deserve a first name'

'Of course. Of course' Alice bit back a smile. This was going to be a _very_ interesting experience.

**A/N: I hope you liked it :D the chapters will get longer. Please give me your thoughts/feedback and review. And anyone have ideas to what 'The Plan' actually is? **


	3. The Acceptance

The seventh year girls' dormitory was extremely quiet. Silent in fact, seeing as it was nearing midnight. That was of course until Lily Evans screamed.

"AHHHH!!!!"

Rory groaned and rolled over, seizing and placing a pillow over her head in attempts to drown out the sound.

"Um, Lily, are you..uh, okay?" Alice asked, drawing back scarlet curtains curiously. Her hair was haphazardly plastered around her face, sticking in all directions. She heard Lily shudder and sighed. That shudder could only mean one thing. One thing, two words and the apparent bane of Lily's existence. James Potter. Alice attempted (and failed) to fix her hair as she slid out of bed, ambling to Lily's bedside.

"Seriously Lils," Rory revealed herself from beneath her warm haven to look towards Lily, "Are you trying to set some sort of record for most dramatic wake-ups, 'cause really, you're on a roll there."

Too frantic to retort, Lily asked disgustedly "Do I have to, you know, actually…talk to him?" There was a look of absolute repulsion plastered on Lily's face. Alice was glad it was dark because she was having trouble restraining her urge to laugh. Rory seemed to be having similar issues because she was now giggling from beneath her pillow.

Alice sat herself on the edge of Lily's bed, taking Lily's hand. "Sweetie, you'd imagine that dating James Potter usually would entail speaking to him" Alice said this softly trying to calm. Rory however went for a different calming tactic.

"That's not entirely true," she exclaimed abruptly. "there are "other things" you can do, that require no talking at all" she added with a wink. Lily's eyes widened with repulsion, and she seemed at a loss for words.

"Great help there, Rory" Alice quipped dryly. Rory smiled back innocently. Both girls looked at Lily who still seemed in shock. Alice and Rory exchanged a glance. This called for one thing only.

"ONWARDS!" Rory exclaimed in a rather abrupt change on tone, arm pointing to the door dramatically. Lily and Alice looked back at her blankly.

"To the kitchens? Come on guys, keep up!" Rory snapped her fingers in their faces.

Alice lead the way to the kitchens, with Lily and Rory following close behind. All were dressed rather inappropriately, as Lily had been the only one who'd thought of grabbing her school jumper to pull over the oversized shirt she slept in. After much detective-style creeping about, and not-so-stealthy sneaking she girls settled in the kitchens, each equipped with a steaming mug of cocoa.

"Now onto important matters," Rory began in a business-like tone, hands cupping around her hot mug. "Lily, as much as you are going to hate this you are going to have to actually speak to Potter from now on. Had it really not occurred to you that to seek revenge by dating him you'd have to talk to him?" Lily furrowed her brows.

"Do I haaaave to?" she whined. Lily took a piece of cake from the plate in front of her, but just broke of small pieces instead of actually eating it. The prospect of revenge against stupid, idiotic James 'my-aim-in-life-is-to-be-the-utter-bane-of-Lily-Evans-existence' Potter did in theory excite Lily, but the idea of having to date him to do so, not so much.

"Lily, honey, think back to fifth year." Lily nodded and Alice. "Yeah, remember how that one afternoon after defence against the dark arts, James thought it would be fun to announce his love to you by decoupaging tiny pictures of his face to every surface of our dorm?" Lily glared at the memory. Alice continued "What was it exactly that you said you wanted to do to him?"

"Hack him into little pieces, and feed him piece by piece to the giant squid" Lily replied in an alarmingly cheerful tone, an evil smile spreading across her face.

"Fun times," Rory muttered under her breath. Both she and Alice helped themselves to more cake and hot chocolate (and honoured tradition for midnight snacks held by the girls) watching Lily contemplate.

"So," she finally spoke. "I suffer through dating Potter and psyche him out, and then live an eternally happy existence without him?"

Rory nodded in the affirmative. "And phase one is already accomplished, so now we just need to psycho it up, which won't be too hard for Lily here" this comment earned a whack on the arm by Lily.

"To crushing some hearts?" Lily held up her mug.

"To crushing some hearts!" the three chimed together, clashing their mugs. However Lily missed a definite looked exchanged between her two best friends.

The next day had gone by eventless as James was still in utter confusion over Lily's greeting the day earlier. It was now however approaching the time of rounds, which usually meant for Lily numerous invitations courtesy of James. The red-head sighed inspecting her appearance in the mirror. She frowned at what she saw, her hair was far too flat, her make-up was smeared and it looked as though there was a drought on her lips. _Lovely_ she thought to herself. As the plan went she was supposed to attract Potter, but this would be slightly difficult if the boy went fleeing at the sight of her. Lily looked down at her perfectly pressed uniform and perfectly in place shirt. _This will have to change if I want to attract the slag-magnet._ With a quick motion of her wand Lily's school skirt had hemmed itself up a good few inches, and to match she undid an extra button of her school shirt. _Better_, she thought, smiling to herself.

This technique apparently worked in Lily's favour as upon seeing Potter, his eyes instantly looked her up and down in complete and utter awe.

"Hi" he sighed out. His eyes were having apparent trouble leaving the sight of her legs, but he finally moved his gaze to her face still however entranced.

Lily smiled at him, attempting to feign a genuine smile. "Coming?" she spoke softly, as James seemed unable to speak at the time.

Awkward wouldn't do justice the extreme discomfort felt by James and Lily. Lily couldn't think of how exactly to speak to James, and James was simply, plain confused.

The pair wandered hallway upon hallway in almost complete silence. And this wasn't comfortable silence either. Neither could think of anything to say to the other, much to Lily's discontent. The epic plan devised by the girls revolved around Lily and James being anything but awkward. They continued in silence. That was of course until they heard a distinct murmuring coming from behind a door. Lily turned to James, raising one eyebrow, who shrugged in response. Lily approached the door, wand in hand, opening it cautiously. James sighed and shook his head.

"Hmm, Sirius?" James cleared his throat purposefully. Yet the boy in question remained half atop an unidentifiable Ravenclaw. James cleared his throat again, this time more forcefully.

"Oh! Hey mate," Sirius stood grinning widely, and proceeded to pat James on the shoulder in greeting, before bounding away, a slinky blonde following him. Lily raised both eyebrows in incredulity.

"Did that really just happen?" she turned to James, who laughed and nodded.

"You're his best friend, I suppose you hear about this all?"

"Yep" his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"You sound so excited about that, don't you?" Lily replied, amused.

"You all those rumours about Sirius and having snogged half of Gryffindor?" Lily nodded. "Well, they may not be as over stated as you think."

By this point both James and Lily were laughing openly. They were still outside the broom closet, and Lily had leaned up against the wall in hopes of support.

"What is it with broom closets at our school?" James joined Lily, and slid to sit on the floor.

"They must radiate some sort of 'come to me' vibe" Lily sat down next to James, but misinterpreting slightly and ending up closer than intended.

"But seriously, it's a cupboard filled with cleaning supplies, how does that scream out romantic?" James was sitting casually against the wall, with his elbows balanced on his knees. There had been an apparent general consensus that round could wait, seeing as the pair seemed to have no intention of moving in the near future.

"I'm not sure romantic is really what a pair of hormonal teenagers is going for Potter" Lily laughed, looking up at his equally amused face.

"Lily," James suddenly sounded serious. "You, you said you'd go on a date with me" he trailed off avoiding eye contact. "Um, so, will you?" he added quietly, yet she could easily hear him in the quiet corridor. James' hand flew to messing up his hair.

Lily remained quiet for a moment. He seemed almost sincere, and it did seem to go with _the plan_.She avoided his gaze, so was completely unaware of the look of anticipation on his face. She bit her lip nervously. Putting any sort of doubtful thought out of her head, she lifted her head to look up at him.

"Well I said I would, didn't I?" Lily leaned up to kiss James abruptly, in an impulse, on the cheek.

Lily turned to stand, strutting away from a very shocked (but completely ecstatic) James.

**A/N: thanks you to anyone who is actually still reading this :) I love you and will love you even more if you review. The updates will be faster from now on (the fourth chapter is already on its way). Feedback is always good, so please tell me your thoughts.**


	4. The First Date

Lily tapped her foot impatiently. It was the morning of her "date" with James Potter. By this it meant James had figured it was too long to the next Hogsmeade visit, so insisted on escorting Lily to a planned trip to the Hogwarts kitchens. James had also decided that rather than a Saturday afternoon or evening, that clearly the best date time would be a Staurday morning. Which was fine by Lily, until she realised that by morning James really meant morning. Which was why she was currently up at 7am, with half an hour until go time, and still nothing to wear.

"whu budt tha rhed?" Rory suggested.

"What did you even say?" Lily prodded the pile of blankets claiming to be Rory. "The whole being my best friend and giving me advice doesn't quite work if you insist on hibernating, and then talking through your blankets".

Rory revealed herself from beneath her pile. "I said what 'bout the red?" she gestured towards a lump on Lily's bed. "And for your information living in my bed is a highly sustainable way of life" she proceeded to inform the dubious girl in front of her.

"Ugh! No." Lily exclaimed bundling the red shirt and throwing it violently across the room. "I swear, I already look like freaking Christmas all year round, there is absolutely no need to remind him!"

"Why do you even care what he thinks? You claim you don't like him" Rory had her doubts of Lily going through with 'The Plan'.

"Yeah, but if I look like I care I can lull him into a false sense of security, then go all mental on him" Lily crossed her arms defensively scanning the contents of her closet currently strewn across her bed. After much deliberation she finally decided on a grey dress, one of her few items of clothing that didn't look like something had slept in it. Lily discarded her pyjamas, pulling the dress over her head and scrutinised herself in their dorm's fancy full-length mirror. Lily spun around when she heard a laugh.

"You're not planning on marrying the boy today. You look fine!" Rory sniggered. She then took Lily by the wrist and tore her away from her self inspection.

_This will be fine, _Lily tried to reassure herself. During rounds James and Lily had begun to bond (well James thought he and Lily were bonding), and a very surprised James had managed to string enough words together to secure an actual time for their "date". As much as Lily had attempted to calm herself over the fact that she would rather murder than date the boy, she couldn't help but be nervous over her very little male experience. It wasn't even that James had scared off any potential boys, Lily was sure it was_ her_ doing the scaring. Lily found that anyone of the male gender would be rather taken aback by her sarcastic humour and tend to go screaming at her rather…forceful…nature.

"Come on. Lover boy will be waiting" Rory leant against the carved mahogany post of her bed, smirking widely. _How very Sirius Black_ mused Lily, failing at avoiding smiling. Rory's expression turned suspicious, her eyes narrowing.

It was Lily's turn to widely smile, "You know, you have a lot more in common with Black than you'd realise". Rory went from looking suspicious to disgusted faster than what Lily thought would be humanly possible. But realising it was now 'Potter time' Lily departed from a repulsed Rory.

She stopped just outside the door of her dorm room. Was she really about to do this? She breathed out unsurely whilst tucking a stray auburn hair behind her ear. _Yes. I can do this. It won't kill me_. Lily took a confidant bound forward.

And then stopped again.

All she could think of was if this backfired. Lily fell to the floor and brought her arms tightly around her knees. _Okay, its time for the ever handy mental list!_

_Cons of dating Potter_, Lily mentally underlined this thought. She was still seated on the floor, but couldn't think less of it at the time. _1. I have to call him by his first name, James…James, James. No it really does _not_ roll off the tongue. 2. Dating Potter..uh James…means being near him. Self explanatory._

_Pros of dating Potter_Lily smiled to herself; she was getting rather good at this dramatic, very teenage girl, inner angsty drama. _1. He's apparently an amazing kisser._ Lily shuddered suddenly, _did I really just think that?! 2. Revenge is a lovely, lovely thing. 3. Potter is a prat. 4. Potter is a prat that deserves lovely, lovely revenge._ Lily ran her tongue over her lips uncertainly.

"Um Lily" Lily lifted her eyes to see Alice looking down at her cautiously. "May I ask why exactly you are sitting cross legged outside our dorm?"

"Yes" Lily nodded, her decision made, "But I have places to be, so I won't answer you". Lily strolled past a highly confused Alice, who had both eyebrows raised.

Lily stepped down the girls' dormitory stairwell to find James waiting for her. She apparently wasn't the only one nervous, as James was sitting, simultaneously running one hand through his already messy hair, whilst the other adjusted and readjusted his glasses. His hazel eyes caught her emeralds, and he nervously smiled.

"Ready for breakfast my love?"

_My love? My love?! _Lily resisted the strong temptation to roll her eyes, and plastered – what she hoped looked like an ecstatic – grin on her face. James held out his hand for her to take. She grudgingly placed her dainty, ivory hand in his larger, rougher one. James laced his fingers around Lily's, smiling down as he stood. James lead Lily down to the kitchens. She faked surprise when he showed them to her. She was head girl, she had to retain her rule-abiding status. Because, of course, being such a good student, her and her friends didn't come to kitchen on a regular basis. Ahem.

James had set up a buffet of breakfast foods. Upon seeing the food Lily sent a questioning look in James direction. There was a rainbow of food. Quite literally, there were bowls upon bowls of fruits varying in colour, half of which Lily had never seen an assumed to be some sort of wizarding food. There were muffins, eggs, sausages, bacon, and toast, all of which seemed to be charmed to be a kaleidoscope of colours. Lastly were the pancakes. Sitting gingerly upon a neatly set table sat a pile of pancakes drizzled with syrup, topped with the word "LILY" spelt out in tiny chocolate chips. James winked back at Lily.

"What can I say; I have a way with the house elves"

James paced to the side of the table, lifting out a chair, gesturing for Lily to be seated. As Lily went to sit James held out a single rose.

"For you, love" his deep voice resounded as he leant in, his warm breath tingling beneath her ear.

Lily's cheeks took on a pink tint, she forced out a giggle at the boyish smile on James face. _Oh dear merlin, is this the swooning they always talk about in harlequin romances? _James too had taken his seat, and was helping himself to an ample amount of food.

"I hope it's all okay. I honestly wasn't sure you'd show up" James admitted, taking a generous bite of a waffle.

"Of course I would" Lily helped herself to a variety of the multi-coloured fruits. She speared through a strawberry viciously and twirled her fork around. "I could hardly wait".

James was oblivious to Lily's awkward response, and continued equally. Lily approached all conversation with caution, having no idea what to expect from the infamous James Potter, who seemed surprisingly sentimental.

"Pancake?" James nodded toward the food. "I noticed you usually have them on the weekends"

Lily was making sure her alarm wasn't clear on her face. She was slightly freaked out by the fact that James paid an undutiful amount of unwanted attention toward her. Lily choked out a laugh.

"Well you know me so well don't you..uh…sweetie?"

James simply smiled back sweetly.

Surprising to Lily, conversation between the two flowed quite easily for the duration of breakfast.

"Stop moving Black!" Rory nudged Sirius hard in the gut. He winced reproachfully.

"Oh I'm sorry," Sirius replied sarcastically. "Not everyone is some spindly limbed child, who can bend like _that!_"

Just. Quit. Moving." Rory glared up at the boy above her. His dark hair fell gracefully into his deep, grey eyes, and he was currently attempting to lean up against a slightly open portrait of fruit. "What are they doing anyway?"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Evans just called James sweetie"

Rory bit down on her knuckle choking down a laugh. If only James knew what he had coming.

"Well you know our Lily, she just loves her pet names" Rory threw him her best 'I'm-so-stunning-you're-going-to-ignore-my-blatant-lying' smile. Sirius just raised his eyebrows in response.

Rory leaned closer towards the painting, awkwardly pressed beneath Sirius.

"Wow. They're talking almost civilly"

"Are you kidding me, Evans sounds like a pre-teen who has just learnt how to flirt"

"Oh stop it, she's not _that_ bad"

Sirius cleared his throat and raised his voice several octaves too many in a poor imitation of Lily. "Oh, James, your just _soooo_ sweet. I can't believe I never saw it before. Let me just stroke your face and gaze all mesmerised into your sexy eyes"

Rory bit back a laugh.

"Well I suppose you have a point." Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, fine, she pathetic" Rory admitted, raising her hands in defeat. She swivelled on her knees so she was now leaning, rather then being pressed up, against the wall. "But I swear she doesn't usually talk like this. Even you know that."

Sirius pushed his hair from his grey eyes in a single swift motion, trademark to the Hogwarts heartthrob. His laugh reached his eyes, but heartthrob (also referred to as player) that he was, this was quickly replaced by his signature smirk.

"Well no actually, Evans doesn't usually talk to me. Yell, yes. Scream, yes. Hex and repeatedly threaten, yes. But talk, never."

Rory was ready to reply, when Sirius clamped a palm across her face.

"Crap! They're coming" Sirius hissed under his breath. Sirius snaked a strong arm around Rory's waist dragging her in the opposite direction. Once securely dragged into a broom closet Sirius loosened his grip.

"Geez, thanks for that Black. Every girl loves to be hauled away by the waist"

"What? I heard chairs scraping, and you think Evans is bad when she's angry, you haven't seen James when he thinks his chances of getting Evans have been ruined."

Rory attempted to free herself of Sirius. There was a resounding clang as Rory's skull came into contact with something very hard, and (shown by the growing throbbing of her head) very painful.

James lead Lily from the kitchen, guiding her with his handoccasionally making contact with the small of her back.

"– but then it exploded and the entire class suddenly had very musically oriented stationary–" Lily was smiling as she told the story, a smile James could resist. He nodded vaguely, completely unaware as to how in Merlin's name Lily was managing to speak about quills and Broadway jazz hands in the same context.

"– and Slughorn was so confused because –"

_Merlin, she's gorgeous_ James thought, smiling to himself.

"– and he's really quite pathetic –"

_I could stare into those eyes all day. And her hair, I could stare at her hair (among other things) all day._

"James? Are you even listening?" James received a bruised arm, via a punch, courtesy of Lily Evans. Lily spun abruptly to face James, crossing her arms while narrowing her eyes at him. Whilst the evil-dictator-of-a-head-girl stance worked wonders on scared first years, James just found this made Lily even more delectable.

"Not at all, love" James leant in, breathing in the scent of her passion-fruit perfume, and placed a quick kiss of her cheek. He then took hold of her by the elbow, spinning her again smoothly so they were continuing as earlier.

"Hey!" Lily attempted to loosen him grip. She failed, and between attempted turns, ended up with his arms around her waist.

"You're just so unbelievably attractive I got caught up in the depths of your beautiful eyes," James flashed her a grin, trying to sound convincing. "Really, your eyes, they're the colour of…an…uh…evergreen forest, in its budding beauty?"

This earn a scoff from Lily, masking a her desire to laugh.

"Potter, do you have some secretive love for romance novels?"

"Just you m'dear" James winked. Lily was smiling back, _opportune moment_. James pushed a piece of hair from Lily's face letting his hands linger at her pale cheek. She blinked slowly, mascara-coated lashes opening to look straight back at James. He could see a faint blush appearing on her face, but neither dared to avert their gaze.

Lily turned her head unexpectedly. James sighed. A look of confusion crossed Lily's features as she lifted her head to peer over James' shoulder. He began to lean in slowly, drinking in every detail of the moment.

"Did you see two dark haired people just then?" Lily pushed past James, sure that she had heard a unfortunately familiar voice.

"Sorry, nope." the messy haired boy muttered. He shook his head, trying to hide his clear disappointment. "Like I said, I was gazing into the evergreen depths of your eyes."

Lily noticed how forced the smile he threw her looked, however a loud clanging shook away any other thoughts.

Rory heard someone clear their throat from beside her. No, a slight amendment, from underneath her.

"Looking mighty fine today Evans"

Rory groaned. Lily was raising an eyebrow menacingly, and from behind her James looked a mixture of irritated, disappointed, and ready to kill (the last one largely directed towards Sirius). Rory could hardly blame him, by the sounds of it James and Lily were having a 'moment'.

"I can't say the same for you, Black" Lily eyed the scattering of limbs that would otherwise be known as Rory and Sirius. There was a tangling of arms and legs

"So, what exactly would you two be doing, entangeled in the middle of a hallway?" James had found his voice, however Rory still seemed unable to find hers.

Sirius seemed to take it upon himself to answer for the pair.

"Well, the suns out, the young ones are off gallivanting, so we thought we were in need of a little _entertainment_. You know how it is"_. _Sirius had a pointed tone to his words that Rory was sure even a chaste, sheltered nun couldn't miss. _Fantastic. _

Lily sent Rory a shocked look, to which the brunette just smiled back sheepishly. A good move figuring the wrath of Lily Evans finding a tangled couple was probably far better than the murderous killing spree which Rory would be on the receiving end of if Lily found out they were spying. Lily, who was still quite shocked though now slightly amused, extended a hand forward and proceeded to drag away Rory. Finding her voice at a highly inopportune moment, Rory picked now to hiss into Lily's ear.

"Sorry about, um, interrupting your date" Rory bit down on her lip slightly worried at what Lily might do. She however instead of bodily harm, heard Lily mutter obscenities in realisation.

"Bye, James!" Lily turned to wave awkwardly, her hand still gripping her friend's. The pair then sauntered away, leaving Sirius to face up to his strongly glaring friend.

"I cannot believe you! You honestly think I'm going to believe that you just _happen_ to be here when me and Lily are, with someone who just _happens_ to be one of her best friends?" Sirius smirked up at his friend, trying to hold an innocent look at the same time.

"Rather perceptive lad, aren't you?"

"SIRIUS!" James whipped out his wand, bringing it to make close contact with the centre of Sirius' head.

"Being friends with you is traumatising. I think I need therapy" Sirius replied, completely unperturbed. James took this as a sign to grab and yank Sirius up by the ear.

"OW! What did we say about physical violence" Sirius screeched in a pitch far too high to normal for a male of his age.

"Something along the lines of resort to it, when your wanker of best mate stops you kissing the girl of your dreams?" James was restraining himself from punching the boy in front of him. After glaring until it was physically painful, James groaned, releasing Sirius' ear and effectively making him drop to the ground with a thud.

"Well, at least she let you near her?" Sirius suggested sprawled unevenly on the

floor, toward James' retreating figure.

"And what was that?" Lily demanded once out of earshot of the boys.

Rory evasively avoided the question by steering Lily's thoughts towards James.

"So, spill all the details. Was he everything you envisioned? Clingy? Annoying? Egotistical?"

This spanned out into a detailed recap on Lily's part of every little part of the breakfast including the almost-kiss. Rory just nodded in reaction, smiling to Lily animated description of the food. By the time Lily neared the finish of her very long description they were approaching the Gryffindor password. Rory threw a quick "grindylow" in the direction of the fat lady (who appeared to be rather intrigued by their conversation), and turned all her attention to Lily.

Lily took a deep breath, lowering herself neatly onto the scarlet rug lining the ground.

"So, when I do I start psyching him out?" Lily looked up to the figure of Rory, which was illuminated as she stood before the fire. Rory took an alternate approached to Lily. She slid, rather ungracefully, landing with a thud, sprawled across the floor. Though she lay unceremoniously across a carpet of fur, Rory gave Lily a knowing look.

"Soon, my dear friend. Very soon."

**A/N: yay! Extra long chapter especially for you guys, my lovely readers :) and I also apologise profusely for using the phrase "a kaleidoscope of colours", it was my phrase of the day, so I had to include it as lame as it may sound. And a question for all you wondrous readers, I realised I've (completely unintentionally) hinted at something happening between Rory and Sirius, so what are people's thoughts on that? Would you want to see that relationship develop? Please review. xoxox**


	5. The Exploration

"That's so," Alice paused and sighed deeply, "romantic!"

"Here we go again." Rory shook her head before burying herself quickly into her hands. Lily twirled a thin strand of her red hair again and again around her finger smiling. She sat cross-legged on the floor of her dormitory, with Alice to her right and Rory to her left. The girls were sitting, surrounding a pile of food substantive enough to feed a small country. Or even a large, morbidly obese country. Each of the girls was however not eating, but staring intently into the middle of the circle.

"I do suppose it is kind of cute" Lily smiled. However she quickly amended "In a totally pathetic kind of way"

"Kind of cute?" Alice exclaimed, tracing the object of their attention lightly with her forefinger. "The boy must slave away his nights charming these things for you. He probably does it while pining over you relentlessly. It's so romantic!"

"Yeah we know. You've said it at least a hundred times now. We get it!" Rory snapped mockingly. She snatched a pale yellow rose from in front of her. Upon her touch the flower transformed to a pale pink colour, changing rapidly to a darker pink before progressing to a deep red colour. Lay out (atop the plethora of food, of course) was a scattering of different roses. Each was a different colour and changed into a series of colours when touched. Lily would come to her dormitory between classes to find a single rose lain delicately on her bed. The same thing would happen as she woke each day. A small rose on her bedside, or occasionally slipped subtly into her bag. Lily had to admit that she did find this quite a sweet thing for him to do. Lily released a small giggle at the thought, but quickly clamped both hands over her mouth.

"Lily Evans!" Rory took on a mock accusing tone. "Did you just _giggle_ because of something _James Potter_ did for you? What are you, a teenage girl?!" Rory playfully pretended to faint dramatically, while Alice gasped in horror. Lily rolled her eyes at her friends' antics.

"But down to more important business" Lily sat up higher on her knees, throwing a light smack in Rory's direction to get her attention. "How should I start freaking out Potter?"

There was silence in response.

Lily sighed. "Will this even work?"  
"You've got to try at least. Okay if you just go out with him or don't go out with him at all, what's he going to do? Just ask you out again, and more." Alice turned to look directly at Lily, hoping she sounded even remotely convincing. Rory continued Alice's point. "But if _he_ breaks up with _you_, because you've scared him out of any sort of relationship, it's not like he's going to bother you anymore. In fact he'll probably run at the sight of you. And doesn't that sound nice?"

Lily opened her mouth to respond, however Rory interjected by yelling at Lily for doubting them. The girls again set to concocting a direct plan of action. There was silence.

Followed by silence.

More silence.

And amazingly even more silence!

"PREGNANCY!" Alice's abrupt shrill eruption made her two friends jump. Lily nodded slowly at Alice, her theory being when in doubt nod and say ahhhh.

"You're saying Lily should get pregnant with James child?" Rory sceptically raised an eyebrow, weighing the options in her head. "Well that _could_ work. If lily had James' child…but he didn't want a child…and then there were arguments involved…you wouldn't stay together!"

"Uh Rory, there are two problems with that. One: I'm not pregnant with James' child, nor do I _ever_ intend to be. And Two: Even if that did happen, hypothetically of course, there would be the slight problem of us still having a child."

Rory shrugged lightly, as apparently the concept of Lily having James' child was no realm of concern. Alice shook her head in disbelief. "No. I mean pretend your pregnant with someone else's child. Surely he'd go like that." Alice snapped her finger for effect. The red-head threw her head back in laughter. Between laugher she managed to give a response.

"You'd be surprised, but that one's been tried, tested and failed. Fifth year."

_James strutted down the hallways of Hogwarts, stopping only as he saw his favourite girl. _

_"Go out with me, Evans" He threw her a wink. She rejected him without even turning to look him in the face._

_So he pleaded. "But why? Lily?" James looked into her eyes seriously, searching for an answer. "Give me a reason, a real reason why."_

_"I can't!" Lily squealed as James started straight at her. "Because…because I'm….uh…pregnant! Yes! That's the reason. I'm pregnant. With child. Expecting. Loaded. Bun in the oven!"_

_James didn't avert his gaze. After some time he spoke, "That's okay. I still want you."_

Alice was sitting mouth completely agape, and eyebrows fully raised. "That boy has _serious_ issues."

"OOOH! Sirius!" This time it was Rory who spoke out. "Snog Sirius, let James walk in on you. That way not only will be dump you, but you'll know you've ruined a life long friendship."

Rory was concerning cheery about this idea. The look in Lily's face showed she thought otherwise. Her expression was contorting with disgust, as she even openly shuddered.

"No way. I am not snogging any more marauders than necessary!"

"But why? It could be fun. Why not throw Remus into the mix as well?" The short blonde girl was slowly twirling one of the multi-coloured roses between two of her fingers, an innocent (but oh-so-deceiving) smile plastered on her face. Lily furrowed her brow, deep in thought. They would have to d something extremely annoying to make James dump her. If the boy was stoic through many a round of mentally and physically scarring abuse, it would take a lot to get through him. An idea however clicked in her head.

"What about pet names?" Lily asked slowly, considering what they could do with this.

"Yes!" both Alice and Rory enthusiastically agreed in uncanny unison.

"So, any suggestions? I think if I keep on doing this he has to eventually get annoyed" Lily laughed at how good being this destructive to James Potter could feel.

"How about pumpkin?" Rory suggested

"Sweetie pie" Alice added soon after.

"Sugar!"

"Honeybun"

"Pookie?"  
"Baby-cakes"

"Jamsie-poo!"

"Sugar plum"

"Schnukums"

"Buttercup"

"Cupcake!

"Stud muffin!"

"Cuddle bug"

"Sweet cheeks"

"My-sexy-gorgeous-hunky-babes"

"What about that one the marauders always call him. 'Gronpes' or something" Alice suggested. Lily tried to hide her unrestrainable laughter behind a very heavy coughing fit.

"Do you mean 'prongs'?" she corrected.

"Yeah! That one." Alice proclaimed loudly, and very enthusiastically. "Start calling him that, then his friends will hate you too."

Rory liked the idea of simply calling him 'Gronpes' better. She voiced this idea.

"You know that is potentially actually worse than the one he already has." Alice mused over the boys and their strange names for one another. "Where do they get them from?"

"I know! Honestly, wormtail? That would be like me calling you pig-limb or something."

Lily hunched over in laughter, which seemed to spread, almost contagiously, to her two friends. But in a rapid, unexpected motion she regained her calm demeanour.

"Okay, we need more than just pert names though. I think Potter will be able to live through those."

Alice smiled to herself, knowing completely that yes, James would just live through the pet names as he would be far too busy being amazed that he was with Lily. Alice ran a hand slowly through her hair, contemplating and concocting evil plans in her head. The loud familiar voice of Rory interrupted her musings.

"Girls, I think we need to do some investigating."

Three dark figures slowly made their way down the girls' dormitory stairs down the Gryffindor common room. Slowly, step at a time, the three girls made their way down the stairs, stepping onto the creaking wooden floors. The latter two of the group exchanged comments on their apparent lack of tact. The one leading the pack lifted a finger to her lips to hush the two following her.

"Rory. It is half past six on a Saturday evening. The entirety of the school is down at dinner. We are in an empty common room. Why, exactly, are we being quiet?" Lily whined, going into Head Girl gear. One hand was positioned on her hip and she took on a commanding tone. Rory simply shrugged.

"How do I know? It just seems like one of those things you have to do"

With a roll of her pale blue eyes Alice grabbed her two partners in crime by the wrist and dragged them to a winding staircase leading away from the common room. This time lead by Alice the three ascended into unknown territory.

The seventh year boys' dormitory.

It appeared almost exactly the same as the girls' side. Following a line of doorways they finally neared the one with 'seventh year boys'' inscribed on the door. Beneath this was a small piece of parchment lined with Sirius' scrawled handwriting reading 'Home to Hogwarts' sexiest students'. Alice nudged open the door, revealing a dormitory much cleaner and sanitary than any of the girls expected.

There were five beds, each surrounded by bed-hangings of gold and scarlet. Next to each bed, like the girls' room, were a bed-side table, most of which were coated with random objects.

"So who do you think is whose?" Alice asked. She walked up to a bed and threw herself down stomach first. Propping up onto her elbows she added, "this is Frank's of course."

"And obviously you'd know that one straight out" Lily teased surveying the room. Above three our of the five of the bed were posters of three various quidditch teams, all of which were mouthing obscenities to each other.

"Ah," Rory sighed. "This one would _definitely_ be James' bed." She stood beneath one of the posters, running her finger across a frame on his bedside. Lily was exploring the section of the room closest to the window. She cocked an eyebrow questioning and doubting Rory's assured reaction.

"Lily, honey, I doubt Sirius or one of the other guys in their little gang would sleep with a picture of you by there bedside." She was smirking, clearly very amused. "Well I suppose he's just getting used to watching you as he falls asleep, seeing as that's where it's headed anyway."

Lily was lost for words. A mixture of concern for James' mental health, fear at his strange obsession and desire to injure Rory for her latest comment.

"Your kidding, right?" she finally spat. Making her way across the (strangely spotless) floor, she yanked the photo frame from her friend's grasp. It was indeed Lily. It seemed to be fairly recent. Standing in the photograph was Lily, leaning against a tree, sunshine streaming across her face as she laughed openly. And this was sitting on the bedside of the boy she hated. _Great_.

"Okay Alice stop basking in the apparently brilliant scent of Frank Longbottom, Lily stop having a mini panic attack. James loves you. Deal with it. We have some investigating to do." Rory commanded each girl, right before crouching to the ground and surveying the floor. Lily made her way around identifying each of the beds. James and Sirius had beds opposing each other, closest to the window. Next to James' was Peter's followed Remus'. Opposite these two was the bed of Frank, which Alice had made herself comfortable on. Alice was flipping casually through a quidditch magazine she had found, while Rory was meticulously inspecting each of their trunks. They all seemed to very clean and neat people, as besides for the stray school tie, the room was mostly spotless.

"Well I suppose you could always pay out quidditch?" Alice suggested after a while, not looking up from the magazine before her. "That would make you like the anti-James in his books"

"Oh yes. He'd be positively offended." Lily nodded, her eyes reverting back to corner of the room with James' bed. She turned to ask Rory a question, but could not miss up a moment to comment on what the brunette was currently doing.

"Rory, I thought we were searching for incriminating evidence, not smelling Black's clothes." Rory smiled innocently in response, returning the shirt she was inhaling to his trunk.

The girls continued with their exploration of the dormitory. They realised that by exploring ones dormitory you could learn an awful lot about a person.

For instant Alice had made the rather unfortunate discovery that Sirius seemed to have a strange liking for day-of-the-week boxers. James had a small collaboration of photos of Lily, all stashed in a stray shoe-box stowed under his bed, this discovered by a shocked Lily who prised the box which was wedged between_Hogwarts, A History,_ and a stray bag of owl found out that Peter apparently read muggle romance novels, as a book titled '_An Epic Love Story for the Teenage Soul_' was neatly laid, bookmark in place atop his bed. That Remus appeared to harbour a fettish for chocolate to a worse extent than they thought. Not only did he have a supply of various flavours of chocolate, he also had chocolate flavoured tea, chocolate flavoured shoe polish and worst of all, chocolate flavoured window cleaner (why he owned this was beyond any of the girls).

None of this however assisted in anything besides potential marauders blackmail.

The sound of several sets of heavy footsteps resounded. They seemed to be getting closer and closer.

" –Really? I think the comet 63 is far better with the swerve. And the wind pressure too – "

Lily stopped mid track recognising Remus' voice, and swore under her breath. She grabbed the thing closest to her – a pillow – and threw it vaguely in Alice and Rory's direction.

"But the Nimbus 100 has much better control to it –"

Alice skidded and ducked under Peter' bed, while Rory waved her wand in the direction of the door.

"The Irish team have all got the old Nimbus'." The person speaking seemed to be straining to open the door. "I can't get it open. Did anyone lock it?"

Rory took this as a signal to follow in Alice's lead, and she manoeuvred her way to Frank's bed. The only other bed which could fit a person without them suffocating. Lily rushed to return any object to its original position.

"Here, let me. _Alohomora._" Lily swore profusely again. She edged her way toward one of the remaining beds. But at that point James shouldered open the door after casting the spell, the other marauders following after him. Lily stood mid-scurrying, mid-stride in the centre of the boys' room.

A pair of hazel eyes locked with soft, emeralds. The same green eyes met a second pair of grey ones. Each stood in silence taking in the scene around them. Lily tried to smile innocently. James was the first to speak.

"Lily, why exactly are you in our dorm?"

**A/N: Please don't kill me for that ending. How ever will Lily get herself out of this one? Feel free to speculate, i'd like to hear what you think :)**

-sreduaram xx


	6. The Explanation

_L__ast Chapter:_

_A pair of hazel eyes locked with soft, emeralds. The same green eyes met a second pair of grey ones. Each stood in silence taking in the scene around them. Lily tried to smile innocently. James was the first to speak._

"_Lily, why exactly are you in our dorm?"_

Lily stood mouth agape in the centre of the floor of the seventh year's boys' dormitory. And in front of her stood four boys, each wearing a different expression. Peter looked slightly fearful, as if the concept of a girl was foreign to him. Remus looked pensive, deep in thought, about what though Lily had no clue. Sirius wore a slight smirk, the one that so many girls swooned over. Yet James, James Lily could not pull her gaze away from. He seemed tense, confused and slightly worried.

Lily continued smiling sweetly whilst trying to form a panicky plan in her head. Her options were limited. Running was out of the question, because to do that she would have to divulge her way through the boys, leaving Alice and Rory stranded in foreign territory. Lily's hand was resting in her pocket, she could feels the uneven surface of her wand. She could hex them. However that may take some explaining later. There was always the 'look! A distraction', point and run tactic, however Lily wondered how far she could run before the boys saw through her evil, and _incredibly witty_ plan.

So Lily did what came to her first. The tactic any girl in this position would try.

"Oh! _James!_" she adopted a sickening sweet voice, took on a slight pout, and fluttered her eyelashes at him. From behind the still bewildered James, Sirius' smirk grew. Lily bit down softly on her lip, all the while running a hand through her hair.

"Er,yes? Lily?" asked James, he seemed to be forcing out the words, eyes too busy watching the girl in front of him. Lily took a few slow steps toward James, never breaking eye contact. Sirius scoffed and made his way to a bed, throwing himself onto it, muttering something that distinctively sounded to Lily like "I may as well make myself comfortable". James turned to send a look to his best friend, Lily taking the opportunity of James turning around to also glare heavily at Sirius. He simply smirked back. James again brought his eyes to Lily. She was closer to him now; she could smell his familiar scent of soap and simply James-ey-ness, and feel slightly nervous at his proximity.

"I was looking for you James" Lily said the first thing that came to her head, and winked enticingly. Lily looked up and brought her hand to his face. She smiled, in what she desperately hoped, was a seductive way. She then let her hand fall to his shoulder and brought the other one to join it. Neither sets of eyes ever dropping, Lily mustered up any sort of hatred and pushed it away. She had to.

Leaning up slowly, she pushed her mouth onto his. Lily Evans had willingly (or so he thought) kissed James Potter, to which he responded happily. The kiss was slow and sweet. _Sickeningly sweet_ in Lily's opinion. His lips were warm and soft against hers. She felt palms snake around her waist, pulling her in closer, lips never leaving her mouth.

After what Lily felt was much too long, James began to pull away. The marauders were still watching the entire scene unfold, both surprised and shocked.

So Lily pulled him in again, this time more forcefully and passionately. Avoiding recoiling in disgust, Lily deepened the kiss, forcing her tongue on him. Still against his mouth Lily forced out a slight moan. She heard one of the boys, which she assumed to be Remus, clear his throat. _Right according to plan._ Lily moaned again, this time loader. She heard a wolf-whistle, from who must have been Sirius. Unfortunately for Lily, her partner in crime was enjoying this also, his mouth travelling faster and more urgently. Lily had to admit, he certainly knew what he was doing. She immersed herself into the kiss. She tightened her grip around James' neck, running her hands dramatically through his hair. He responded by guiding her back towards the nearest object, a wall she assumed, she couldn't be sure. Lily wrapped her leg around James', making sure it was in clear sight of his friends. And much to her dismay, she couldn't help but enjoy him.

Another louder throat clear followed.

"We'll, uh, just be leaving you two" Remus awkwardly apologised, whilst Sirius shouted "Way to go, mate!"

Lily heard a creaking open of a door, alerting her that the marauders well letting themselves out. _All according to plan._ But this was where her planning and great improvisation stopped. James Potter may have been a great kisser, but Lily figured she shouldn't do more damage than necessary. As the door slammed shut Lily automatically stopped her lips from moving.

But James was still extremely close to her, with his arms wrapped around her waist. He also seemed to appreciate the idea of snogging, and was trying to gain a response out of her. Lily pulled away, and instead of wiping her mouth as she wished, she plastered a smile across her face.

"James" Lily sighed, making sure her voice sounded natural, low, attractive, and she was breathing onto his ear. Her breath was still hitching, and slightly uneven. James was grinning ear to ear. He rested his forehead against hers, his breath running across her cheek. He was close. Uncomfortably close.

Lily pulled away from him, forcing on a wide smile.

"So…That was nice" Lily exclaimed, with her voice a fake cheerfulness. Unsure of how to react in such a situation, Lily brought up her hand to stroke his cheek. But in a last minute change of heart she chose instead to pat him. Yes, Lily gave James an awkward pat on the shoulder and pulled away. He seemed slightly shocked to her sudden pulling away, but still seemingly ecstatic at even being touched by his Lily.

_Classy, Lily, Classy_, were the only thoughts in her head. _Crap! Rory and Alice_, the realisation that there were two girls still underneath beds was a slight cause of panic. So again she turned to James.

"Jaaaaameeeesy" Lily whined, accentuating every possible vowel, whilst donning another pout. James nodded slightly, breath still heavy. "I think I left my book in the 3rd corridor, and I don't want to go out." Lily tried to look pathetic and worried.

"Will you get it for me, please? Pumpkin?" James' eyes widened as her heard the last word, he winced slightly but still nodded. With a slight goodbye and quick peck on the cheek he pulled open the door and left.

Before Alice or Rory even emerged from beneath the beds, Lily heard abrupt and simultaneous laughter, even applause from Rory. Sliding out on her stomach Rory shook her head disbelievingly at the very confused red-head.

"Nicely done, my friend" Rory gave Lily a mocking pat on the shoulder.

Lily had been avoiding Rory and Alice's questions like the plague. After scurrying out the boys' dormitory, she had buried herself under layers of blankets and pretended to sleep. Hibernation was the answer.

But then it was morning.

Revealing a single green eye slowly, even behind the bed hangings she could see light streaming in.

_Damn._

Lily pulled back the hangings, and realised with a glance at her alarm clock that it was still early. No one else in the room seemed to be awake. Lily took this opportunity to rush out of the room and out to breakfast.

Merlin or some power of above must have had it in for Lily, because reaching the great hall, seated at Gryffindor table was none other than James. Because of her fleet from her room, Lily was now making her way down to Gryffindor table with robes thrown over her pyjamas, with her auburn hair the very definition of 'flyaway'.

James was nonchalantly flicking through a newspaper with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands. He was of course, much to Lily's dismay, perfectly delectable in the morning. As always, the mop of black hair on his head was messy, but he somehow pulled it off. James readjusted his glasses before leaning in closer to read something in the paper. He was yet to notice Lily making her way toward him.

_Beside him? Or Opposite him?_

Lily finally chose to take a seat opposite James. Noticing her sit, he folded his paper and put it beside him, and grinned widely at her. The boy seemed purely ecstatic to see her. Lily tried to reciprocate such a reaction.

"Uh, hey Pot- James" Lily corrected herself grabbing a bagel viciously. James laughed as he greeted her.

"Hey, love," James replied. He was watching her stab her food item repeatedly. "Not as good as choc-chip pancakes, aye?"

Lily smiled sweetly in response. James lifted his mug to take another sip

"Of course not…honey munchkin" James coughed into his drink, small amounts of coffee splashing over his plate. James tapped his wand against the table, muttering something indecipherable under his breath that Lily was sure wasn't a spell. She bit back a smile.

"So, what are you doing up so early?" Lily asked conversationally. Having returned to his breakfast of eggs, James swallowed a large mouthful to answer Lily.

"I like mornings" he replied brightly. The red-head sent him a look of mock shock, and mouthed 'the horror' across to him. James chuckled, again swallowing a mouthful, barely chewing. She smacked him lightly across the arm, to which he only rolled his eyes.

"Coming from the girl who looks to have it in for that bagel" James retorted. Lily followed his line of vision to the decapitated mess on her plate which was previously a breakfast food. She shrugged slightly.

"Mornings aren't so much my thing" said Lily, in a very matter-of-fact voice. James titled his head forward with a laugh, so much so that the wire-rimmed glasses propped on the bridge of his nose jerked forward every so slightly.

"Why are you here this morning then?" James asked, with a slight smile on his face. The smile something to do with the fact that Lily Evans, _his_ Lily, was actually speaking to him. This however was subject to change.

Lily made an abrupt decision. It was time for a mood change in her opinion,

She pressed her mouth into a slight frown, deliberately catching James' eye then looking away with a pointed look of sadness crossing her features.

"Lily?" James leaned across the table and places his hand softly over hers. She snatched it away purposefully. She snapped her head up to James and faked a loud sob. With a slam of her cutlery Lily lifted herself to her feet.

"You don't even want me here, do you?" she pointed an accusing finger toward James. He flinched back slightly, eyes widening.

"No, Li–"

"I don't want to hear it! Potter!" Lily spat cutting him off. She pressed her eyes together tightly.

A tall figure could be seen running out of the great hall, a boy standing where she left, extremely concerned.

What he didn't know was that as soon as she reached the doors a large, manipulative smirk spread across her face. _Right according to plan._

**A/N: So who hasn't updated for like a year….sorry guys (if there actually anyone still reading this)**


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